Everyone is familiar with seeing frustration and anger on the golf course. It’s prolific with tournament golfers, juniors, weekend warriors and pros. There are even advertisements that center around the comedic elements of golf course tantrums. However, parents and coaches can be left scratching their heads trying to figure out some of the reasons why a game that's meant to be fun can cause such reactions to poor shots.

Today, in a world driven by social media, college announcements, digital leaderboards, and a growing number of junior rankings whose formulas we may never understand, a junior golfer sees the score next to their name as a gauge of the quality of their game. For especially passionate and committed golfers, this score can be directly tied to their identity, self-esteem, and self-worth.

In The Golf Zone was originally an idea for a blog that I had when I was a junior golfer. It sat on the shelf for a while, but it was finally time to bring the idea to fruition this past year.

Stress is the Number One Killer of Performance

Stress has many negative mental and physiological consequences, including …